VICIS Awarded U.S. Army Contract to Improve Safety of Army and Marine Corps Combat Helmets
Veteran Military Leaders Join VICIS Coalition of Advisors
SEATTLE, May 22, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- VICIS, Inc., creator of the most technologically-advanced football helmet on the market, was awarded a contract from the U.S. Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center (NSRDEC) to improve Army and Marine Corps combat helmets. VICIS will research ways to replace the combat helmets' existing foam liner pads with its own innovative liner technology derived from structures developed for its top-ranked football helmets.
"The NSRDEC is excited to work with VICIS in the development of their suspension pad system for use in military combat helmets," said Benjamin Fasel, a mechanical engineer at the NSRDEC and the effort's Project Manager. "VICIS has demonstrated great results in their football helmets, and we look forward to continuing those types of results with the unique blunt impact requirements of combat helmets."
Current Army and Marine Corps combat helmets are designed primarily for ballistic protection, shielding service members from gunfire and shrapnel. VICIS' technology will improve the helmets' blunt impact performance, which is critical to head protection for our men and women in uniform. According to a 2013 Congressional Research Service report, approximately 80 percent of traumatic brain injury in the U.S. military results from blunt impact not on the battlefield, but in training and other non-deployed settings.
"This U.S. Army contract is further validation of VICIS' ability to develop truly innovative impact mitigating technologies for sports and other applications," said Dave Marver, VICIS CEO and Co-Founder. "VICIS takes great pride in bringing this technology to our nation's servicemen and women, protecting those who protect us."
Several decorated military advisors will provide strategic counsel to VICIS as it improves the safety of U.S. Army and Marine Corps combat helmets, bringing decades of military experience to the VICIS Military Coalition:
- Gen. Peter Chiarelli USA (Ret.) served as the U.S. Army's 32nd Vice Chief of Staff and led Department of Defense efforts to address post-traumatic stress (PTS) and traumatic brain injury (TBI). He recently retired as CEO of One Mind, an organization dedicated to improved diagnostics, treatments, and cures for brain illnesses and trauma. Chiarelli retired as a four-star general after serving 39 years.
- Vice Admiral Kevin Cosgriff USN (Ret.) commanded the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, overseeing some 30,000 Sailors and Marines throughout a region encompassing 22 countries, and simultaneously commanding the U.S. Fifth Fleet, directing naval forces in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Arabian Sea, and off the coast of East Africa. Earlier in his career Cosgriff was Director of the White House Situation Room under President Clinton.
- Gen. Charles Wald USAF (Ret.) is the former Deputy Commander, U.S. European Command and previously Commander U.S. 9th Air Force where he was the Supporting Air Commander for Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. Wald retired as a four-star general after serving more than 35 years. He was drafted into the National Football League by the Atlanta Falcons in 1970.
ABOUT VICIS
VICIS is a Seattle-based company focused on sports protective technologies. Its inaugural product, the ZERO1 football helmet, launched in 2017 and was worn by players on 18 NFL teams. The helmet ranked first in 2017 and 2018 NFL/NFLPA Helmet Performance testing and was named one of TIME Magazine's Best 25 Inventions of 2017. VICIS is funded and/or advised by several current and former NFL players, including Roger Staubach, Jerry Rice, Russell Wilson, Doug Baldwin, and Alex Smith. Additional investors include thought-leading spine and neurological surgeons, the Peregrine Group, Harry Fath, and angelMD. For more information, please visit www.vicis.com/.
SOURCE VICIS, Inc.
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